Succession
by lucie dans le ciel
Summary: Pink hair medic versus hokage: a difficult decision to make! And what's going on with Uchiha and Uzumaki? No spoiler. Oneshot, AU from Sasuke's escape. Sakura x ?


Title: Succession  
Author: Lucie

Author's Note: I'm politely disclaiming whatever's not mine...

**AU from Sasuke's escape.**

*****  
**

"**You've got to be kidding me!!** I can't believe you would even ask me something like that! There's just NO chance in hell I would do that to him!"

The pink hair woman stood abruptly from her seat and started pacing the room with great agitation. Who would have known that the esteemed hokage's mind could go so wrong? Obviously, abuse of "mountain-punching" among other things had started to take its toll on her brain functions.

The aforementioned mentor was still smiling, her hands flat on the desk in front of her. Despite her perfect technique and chakra control, her real age had started showing some times ago and it was obvious that the leader of the leaf hidden village was not the eternally young looking woman she had been for years anymore. Still, she was not to be crossed and remained one of the most feared leaders of the shinobi villages' alliance, founded five years prior at the end of the great war.

"You know I'm asking you because it's necessary. I would not burden you like that seeing you are already swimming in responsibilities! But I am first and foremost the leader of this village and you know very well I have to make decisions I dislike quite often!"

"Yeah, don't I know..." Pushing a pink lock behind her ear, the petite woman walked back to her chair and let herself fall in it with a sigh.

"I cannot say I am not curious about the possibilities... but still, you have to realize a lot of people will disagree!

...starting with Sasuke!"

Frowning, the older woman rubbed a tired hand against the jewel on her forehead closing her eyes. Of course... Sasuke!

"Don't get me started on him now, I won't stop 'till sundown! He's giving me enough grief to believe the whole clan is back, as bothersome as he is... And you should not address him like that, you know he gets even more annoyed!"

She looked at the pink hair girl and realized she didn't seem to be listening anymore but concentrating on her teacher's forehead. Of course, her unconscious gesture had attracted the girl attention and surely she was going to start again on the jewel and the mysterious technique associated with it.

_What a bother... But I guess it's probably time I teach her anyway... I could even use that as a bargain chip for her to accept!_

The smirk appearing on her mentor's face pulled the girl out of her musing and with her own mischievous smile, she belatedly answered the comment about the last Uchiha. After all, she still had time before she would really need what she had started referring as the succession technique of the current hokage.

"Oh... and what should I call him, huh? Sasuke-kun?"

The scowl on her mentor's face was clearly worth the terrible training session that was sure to follow the next day. Was it even a slight blush she could detect?

The leader of the fire country shook herself and sat straight in her seat. "What are you talking about now? Don't think I don't see you changing subject! Why would you be so adamant in saying no, anyway?"

"..some days, it already seems like you're doing half of the job!" She added the last part with a smile, looking fondling at the young woman with short pink hair. She had been surprised when the girl had decided to cut it even shorter than before and she had been sporting an almost boyish haircut for a few years now. Very practical for field work and hospital duty she had said. Recalling her own youth, the older woman had been both proud and impressed. She herself had never been able to cut her hair shorter than shoulder length and had long considered herself to be a bit vain. But in the end, she had accepted it and found that as a kunoichi, her "cute and womanly side" (as she called it) could also be used as a weapon.

The young woman looked through the window for a moment before turning back toward the hokage. "You know yourself that it's not easy to separate your life as a kunoichi and your personal life. The fact that I also am a medic-nin and close to the hokage is not exactly helping my family life! When I'm not on a mission, I'm at the hospital or with you and at night, it's often that I get called in again for emergency! What I am supposed to tell my husband if I say yes to you now?"

"Are you sure there isn't something else? I'm sure that Uzumaki would eventually understand. It's not like him to try and limit your carrier. Are you trying to say that being a woman, you cannot accept as much responsibilities as..."

"No!" The pink hair woman cut her mentor agitatedly. "It's not about being a woman! But in the end, he does more than me in the house and he's more present. I already feel bad, considering Kanna is still a baby. Isn't her mom supposed to be with her when she goes to sleep or wakes up? What if I say yes and succeed you? Should I write on my planning three weeks prior when I decide to have lunch with my husband?"

The hokage frowned, wondering if the bitter remark was intended as a personal attack. "I think you are overly dramatic! I don't think you would be more pressured than you are now... You would spend less time on missions or at the hospital and more at the tower. And who knows, perhaps you would even have more personal time seeing you would be so close from home!"

"...but why don't you tell me what's really bothering you. You said "there's no chance I would do that to him." Is it really only about your family time or is it more about Naru..."

"Don't!" The girl only whispered it but it felt like a shout in the silent office. The sun was setting and the golden light gave the moment an intimate quality the younger kunoichi was reluctant to break. "I know that for you, things seem like it but this has nothing to do with him! My husband has his own mind and doesn't follow in his every footstep you know! He hasn't talk about being hokage since he joined anbu anyway... You know how boys are with the father image... It was just something he outgrew in the end!"

"Yes... Boys and their father..." The hokage snorted and looked briefly at the pictures stacked on a side of her desk. "I'm sorry." She turned a serious gaze toward the pink hair woman, fingering her own locks in contemplation. "I know you don't like when I'm comparing generations too much but it's difficult for me seeing..."

She could not finish her sentence as a loud voice outside the office interrupted her and the heavy door creaked open.

"...who you are Uchiha-sama but the hokage was insistent that she was not to be disturbed while with her... your... hum..." The guard seemed unsure how to finish his sentence under the infamous unwavering gaze of the Uchiha councilman.

With a slight smile, the leader of the village took pity on the poor man. "Ashino, you can go now. In fact, you're relieved of your duty for the day, I believe I have an escort to go home."

The guards were not supposed to leave their leader out of their sight until she was safely home but hinting that Uchiha-sama or Uzumaki-san were not qualified enough to protect the hokage was another way of saying you had suicidal tendencies. The man hesitated for a second dancing from one foot to the other before retreating rapidly from the back hair man freezing glance.

"Sasuke, I didn't know you would walk me home tonight!" The hokage voice was slightly mocking, knowing very well the reason of the Uchiha's sudden appearance in her office the same evening she had decided to talk to her apprentice.

"Hn." With his trademark answer (that could mean everything from "Good evening" to "I'm gonna chop your head off" and was left to personal interpretation depending on the context), the dark hair man turned his gaze from the young woman to the older one.

"I know what you're doing. And you both know what I think about it."

Having said his part, he turned toward the window and started studying the sunset with (fake) concentration, seemingly ignoring the two women. From behind her desk, the leader of the leaf observed him critically. He was still as impressive as he had been the first time she had seen him and if he, like her, didn't look so young anymore, he had gained a strong presence and a certain self-confidence as one of the most important councilman of the village (_not that he needed more self-confidence, that arrogant man!_ she thought with amusement) . Tall with broad shoulders, his face was sharper than in his youth. Surprisingly, he didn't look as much as his older brother anymore and she could see his father in him, at least from what she had seen in pictures.

Watching a frown form on her apprentice's face, the hokage refrained from slapping her hand on her forehead and let out a deep sigh. _Nooo... It was already the most annoying conversation ever and now, it's a family reunion! I wonder if there is still some sake lying around..._

The younger kunoichi sat straight in her chair and turned toward the man still in deep contemplation of... the sky? the roofs on the other side of the street? "You knew she was going to ask me, right? And you didn't want her to. You don't think I have the right to decide for myself? I'm not a kid anymore, _Sasuke_!"

She put a special insistence on the name and smirked when his back tensed in answer. The hokage was right to fear the development of this particular conversation. _They are as stubborn as each other!_

The Uchiha finally turned his intense dark gaze on the young pink hair woman. "Don't call me that! And I know you can decide for yourself. I just know she will rope you into accepting anyway."

It was the hokage turn to frown. "Oi, Sasuke, I resent that! I would not force her into anything and you know it!"

"But she will feel like it's her duty."

"It _is_ her duty!"

"Point proven." The Uchiha smirked at the obviously agitated hokage and was going to add something when the younger woman, silent until then, stood from her chair abruptly.

"Stop it! You're driving me mad, both of you. It's obvious I'm not the problem! You should just go to a training ground (hopefully one far away from the village) and beat the crap out of each other... Honestly, you're killing me! So I can't call you Sasuke... And you, I have to call you Hokage-sama or Shishou or Sensei! Come on, just make me hokage already and I will give you both a two years long infiltration mission and I'll have some peace!"

The pink hair medic, getting more and more riled up during her tirade, turned her dark eyes alternately to both of the surprised older shinobi.

The Uchiha kept his usual stony face as the other woman watched her warily, two fingers on her temple trying to prevent the headache she could feel coming. "o-kay... I guess we all should try to step back a bit from the question..." The hokage tried to calm the situation and added after a pause "...and it's night already, I'm not on duty anymore, you don't have to call me hokage now." trying to pacify the red face girl in front of her.

"Very well. I should go home anyway, _mom_." The pink hair kunoichi seemed to relish the term and turned a grin toward the older woman. "I think even if my husband is an Uzumaki, he is not as forgiving as you might think and I want to see Kanna before she sleeps." She took two steps toward the door before turning her black eyes to the third person in the room. "Oh and _Sasuke_" she started mischievously, "I know you're just angry mom has a higher status than you in the village... Imagine when it's me!"

"Night mom, dad..." She was gone with a giggle and Sasuke turned a slightly amused gaze (you had to know him quite well to detect the emotion, of course!) on the hokage. "She's going to be worse than you."

"Yeah..." The older pink hair woman stood from her seat and started piling some files she wanted to bring home. "But she didn't say yes yet. I thought it was because of her husband but I keep forgetting he's not Naruto."

Sasuke could feel a deep sadness in her even if her comment had been said in a neutral voice. Of course, the third member of team seven was never very far from their thought. "I'm sure Mikoto was annoyed if you told her that. She doesn't want to be compared to you too much or her _husband_ being compared to the dobe either." The way he said the word "husband" was not to Sakura's liking but she had stop trying to change Sasuke's mind on that topic. Mikoto was his first child and only girl and as a father, he seemed to be programmed to find her husband not good enough anyway. _And he's an Uzumaki! _she thought with a snicker.

She was brought back to reality when he continued. "And speaking of the dobe, you know he never resented you at all. It's not in his nature... The best choice was made with the circumstances and Naruto knew he could not step up anymore. By the way, did you receive a new report?" He asked, wanting to move the subject toward an easier topic than Sakura's designation as sixth hokage by her mentor Tsunade.

"Not yet... He's as bad as Jiraya for that!" She answered with a nostalgic smile. "Last I've heard, he was in Iwa... At least, we are well informed of the other countries political situations and the general social mood, even if it's impossible to get him to do what I want!"

"You want him back" he said flatly. But she could detect something there. Naruto had always been special to both of them and she knew he missed him as much as she did.

"Yes. But I know it's impossible. From the moment his wife died, I knew he was only waiting for his son to make a life for himself before he would disappear to roam the country like his teacher before him... I could order him back and I think he would obey, but I'll never do that." She needlessly arranged some documents on her desk to keep her gaze down and her hands busy.

A hand appeared in her vision and took the pile of documents from her. "Let's go home. You still have tomorrow to harass Mikoto into doing what you want and we have sons on our own at home."

My God, was the Uchiha actually using a tender voice and trying to lift her dark mood? _I need to write that down... Will surely be another year before he does something like that! _But for all Inner-Sakura's snide comments (not as many as when she was a crazy teenager, she was happy to precise), she never could resist her husband and she felt a smile growing on her face.

"Yes... about that, I heard that Tomoaki misses my cooking and would like to come home. Anbu must be harsh to him or my cooking especially good to make him want to live with his two younger brothers again!" She turned a pleased face toward her husband who was sporting a very Shikamaru-like nonplussed expression.

"...or he's got a concussion from his last mission..." he deadpanned, smirking at the annoyed looking Sakura.

"Are you trying to say that only someone with a concussion would like my cooking? Don't forget councilman Uchiha that I can punch you through a wall with one finger!" Her expression turned playful as she locked the door of her office behind her.

"Or does that mean you are cooking for me tonight?"

He was mumbling something unintelligible when she caught up with him in the stairs.

****

Okay, this was really fun to write. Hopefully, my English is not too crappy and it's also fun to read...  
I thought about what happened to Naruto in details but I couldn't really use it too much without straying too far from the story line... I still think it doesn't merge well with the "Uchiha family drama" but considering everything is mostly random, I guess it's okay!

Perhaps I'll do another oneshot centered on the Uzumaki family.

I've a fanart of Mikoto if are curious. You can get the link on my author's page.

So if you read, please leave your thoughts in a review.


End file.
